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Indira Gandhi Anniversary Special: Life journey and political decisions that made the 'Iron Lady' of India

Indira Gandhi enrolled at Oxford University in England to pursue higher education, but could not complete her course and returned to India. She was later married to Feroze Gandhi in 1942. They had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.

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India's first and only woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was born on this day in 1917. Indira Gandhi became active in politics as soon as she completed her studies. She became a very popular Prime Minister and was known as a popular leader throughout her political journey and still remembers her decisions. During her reign, Indira Gandhi took many such decisions that were quite challenging for a woman in those times and even beyond the people's imagination. 

Indira Gandhi was India's greatest leader, freedom fighter, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Her mother, Kamala Nehru was a freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Congress. She was born on 19 November 1917 in Allahabad.

Indira Gandhi studied at the Modern School in Delhi, St. Cecilia's and St. Mary's Convent in Allahabad. She also studied at the International School of Geneva, the Ecole Nouvelle at Beaux, and the People's Own School at Pune and Bombay. She later moved with her mother to Belur Math, which is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission. She also studied at Santiniketan, where Rabindranath Tagore named her Priyadarshini. Since then, many people have started calling her Indira Priyadarshini Tagore.

Indira Gandhi enrolled at Oxford University in England to pursue higher education, but could not complete her course and returned to India. She was later married to Feroze Gandhi in 1942. They had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.

Political journey

In 1960 Indira Gandhi was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress. After her father died in 1964, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha and became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Lal Bahadur also joined Shastri's cabinet. After the sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966, she was elected Prime Minister. During his first term as PM, she nationalized 14 banks. She served as the longest-serving PM after her father. Indira Gandhi received India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, for winning against Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

In her political career, she was the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (1964–1966). She then held the highest position as Prime Minister of India from January 1966 to March 1977. She was also the Minister of Atomic Energy from September 1967 to March 1977.  She also held the Ministry of External Affairs' additional charge from 5 September 1967 to 14 February 1969. 
Gandhi headed the Ministry of Home Affairs from June 1970 to November 1973 and was Minister of Space from June 1972 to March 1977. She was the Chairman of the Planning Commission since January 1980. She again held the Prime Minister's Office from 14 January 1980.

Emergency imposed in India

After the Lok Sabha elections in 1971, Raj Narayan was accused of misconduct, who contested against Indira Gandhi. The Allahabad High Court declared the election void on the grounds of electoral malpractices, which meant that Indira Gandhi could no longer hold her post as Prime Minister, but refused to step down. In protest, unrest spread across the country. During that period, Gandhi got most of the opposition leaders arrested. Her cabinet recommended the President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, to declare an emergency in 1975.

After the emergency declaration, the entire country was under the direct rule of Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party. The police were given special powers, which enabled them to curb freedom indefinitely. The press was also censored. Most of the opposition leaders were detained, and the states ruled by the opposition parties were dissolved. Finally, in 1977, Gandhi decided to contest again but lost the election. However, she won the election back in 1980.

The assassination

In 1984, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was captured by extremists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who demanded an independent state for the Sikhs. To demand a separate state and control the Golden Temple occupation, Indira Gandhi sent the army. But this resulted in bloodshed and great anger in the Sikh community. On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was shot and killed by two of her bodyguards. Her bodyguards fired 31 bullets at her.

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